WASHINGTON — While still proclaiming it is "independent," the new powerhouse super PAC called "Make Us Great Again" has launched a website filled with photos of Rick Perry and campaign bullet points about the governor’s record creating jobs and lowering taxes in Texas.

But it marks one more step removing the illusion of "independence" surrounding super PACs, which are proliferating this year because of their ability to collect unlimited amounts of money from corporations and wealthy donors. (Backers of Rep. Michele Bachmann's candidacy announced Wednesday that they have formed a new super PAC, Citizens for a Working America, to promote her candidacy.)

But the names of no other candidates other than Rick Perry appear on the website of Make Us Great Again. The name "Perry" appears 15 times, along with this message: "We’ve weathered Obama’s storm long enough. New jobs start with new conservative leadership. Rick Perry for president."

"We're a completely separate entity," Jason Miller, a spokesman for Make Us Great Again, when asked about the super PAC's connections to Perry's presidential campaign. The group was formed by "supporters" who "want to see Rick Perry president" but who are not coordinating their activities with the candidate, he said. Perry also "at present" has no plans to speak at any of the group's fundraising events, he added.

Similarly, Priorities USA Action the super PAC created this year by two former White House aides to President Barack Obama, including Bill Burton, his former spokesman, has no photos or explicit references to the president on its home page (although it does have a YouTube video attacking Republicans for criticizing his policies.)

The group is "an independent expenditure" PAC that "supports candidates who will advance policies that provide the strongest and most sound outcomes for middle class families," reads the message on the group’s website.

"The Perry PAC appears to be dropping all pretenses," said Paul S. Ryan, a lawyer for the Campaign Legal Center, which has been strongly critical of the role of super PACs.

But Make Us Great Again is considered the most powerful of the pro-Perry PACs and the one that is likely to raise and spend the most money. In addition to Toomey — one of the most influental of statehouse lobbyists — its other co-founder, G. Brint Ryan, is a prolific Perry fundraiser and donor who has contributed more than $550,000 to the governor's campaigns. "To the exent that there is an official PAC ... they're it," Robert Schuman, the founder of Americans for Rick Perry, told the Wall Street Journal.

Ryan said he fully expects that, once they start running campaign ads, the other super PACs will be equally explicit about their goals. So long as they are not caught "coordinating" with the campaign committees of the presidential candidates about what ads they run and when, the super PACs have "wide latitude" to raise and spend money as they see fit, he said.

Video: Perry criticizes Obama, Fed chairman

Closed captioning of: Perry criticizes Obama, Fed chairman

>>>good evening. it's the summer of
2011
, but right about now, it sures seem the summer of
2012
. we don't vote for president again for a good long while and yet all the candidates are out on the road. the president, the entire gop field, and right about now, the rest of the country is learning what texans already know about their governor, what he says, what he does, how he does business and it's givant rest of us something to talk about and watch closely right here in the middle of august. and as proof that the campaign is already on, today's debate had to do with money, name calling and whether or not the
president of the united states
loves his country. we begin here tonight with nbc's
andrea mitchell
.

>> reporter: campaigning today in iowa at the world's largest truck stop,
rick perry
was not backing down about the storm he created by taking aim at fed chairman,
ben bernanke
.

>>this guy prints more money between now and the election, i don't know what y'all would do to him in iowa, but we'd -- we would treat him pretty ugly down in
texas
. i mean, printing more money to play politics at this particular time in
american history
is almost treacherous -- or treesonness in my opinion.

>> reporter: perry
's comments also crossed the line for some republicans. fellow texan
karl rove
say it had is not presidential.

>>it was a very unfortunate comment. you don't accuse the
chairman of the federal reserve
of being a traitor to his country, of being guilty of treeson. and suggesting that we treat him pretty ugly in
texas
.

>> reporter: in a
rough and tumble
few days,
perry
, a former
air force
pilot, has also repeatedly questioned
president obama
's patriotism.

>>the president had the opportunity to serve his country, i'm sure at some time, and he made a decision that that wasn't what he wanted to do.

>> reporter: is he saying the president doesn't love america?

>>you need to ask him.

>> reporter: late today, the president responded to
wolf blitzer
on cnn.

>>be a little more careful about what you say. but i will cult him some slack. he has only been at it for a few days now.

>> reporter: perry
's
texas
swagger is his
calling card
, bred of a hardscrabble boy hood on the
family farm
and aggie root at
texas a&m
.
perry
's chief claim to challenging
president obama
is the
texas
jobs record.
perry
says his state produced 43% of all the jobs created across america in the last two years. with an unemploy rate at 8.2%, well below the national average, partly because of the
oil and gas
boom, partly because of growing trade with mexico, and federal
defense spending
in
texas
. critics point out that
texas
has the highest percentage of residents with no
health insurance
and ties mississippi for the percent tam of low-wage jobs. still, those who know
perry
say don't underestimate him.

>>anybody who sells him short and thinks that he is a light weight is making a
big mistake
.

>> reporter: perry
had repeated opportunities all day today to back off his comment about the president and the fed chairman and he did not. clearly showing how he plans to separate himself from the other candidates, like fellow
tea party
-supported candidate
michele bachmann
and clearly,
mitt romney
. brian?